A regulated Canadian immigration consultant has been sentenced to two years of house arrest and fined $50,000 after admitting to creating fake jobs at a non-existent house of worship.
Balkaran Singh, 45, caught the attention of Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) in 2021 when he brought three foreign nationals into Canada through Manitoba’s Emerson border crossing.
In writing the applications for his clients, Singh falsely stated they would be doing “religious work,” even creating a phony religious institution he called Dukh Niwaren Sewa Society.
The fictitious venue’s since-deleted Facebook page was reportedly a Sikh faith-based charitable organization. Singh stated that the organization worked for the advancement of the Sikh religion and community welfare.
The Crown prosecutor of the case, Matt Sinclair, argued that Singh misused Manitobans’ support for people with diverse faiths.
The sham organization was listed on multiple Canadian charitable sites such as Canada Helps and even has a page on the D&B Business directory.
During their investigation, the CBSA interviewed a client of Singh who testified to receiving fake job offers and being provided pay and reference letters for jobs they never performed.
Sinclair also confirmed that in light of the information revealed in court, nearly all of the known clients of Singh are having their status in Canada reviewed by the CBSA.
It is clear that Singh himself is a Sikh, aiding other Sikhs from India in illegally circumventing Canada’s immigration system to enter Canada, “work”, and subsequently earn permanent residency (PR) status.
In line with the large influx of migrants from India, and more specifically from the Sikh-majority Punjab region, Singh is an example of diaspora communities connecting to aid each other in a sectarian scheme, using their status as a religious minority within Canada, to mislead authorities and gain an edge others simply don’t have.
